For My Husband, On Our Anniversary

Make a Smilebox slideshow

If My Blackberry Curve Could Give Back Rubs...

This phone was designed for a business person but I have found this little piece of technology to be key to keeping my ducks in a row.  Besides being sexy and red I love that it has little alarms that I can set to remind me of appointments, birthdays, and even that hag of an aunt that visits me every 21 days.  I get my 30 minute reminder at Trader Joes that I need to pick up the kids and so I have to get away from the baklava and check out.  Never again will I lose track of time while deciding on the best bunch of organic bananas! 

In the morning I wake up to the sweetest chirp that escalates slowly.  No loud obnoxious blaring bleeps, this phone knows how to seduce me into the land of the living. 

I get email straight to my phone for three different email accounts.  That helps me keep on top of things and helps me get back to people more quickly and I can even send emails while I am out.  The best part of it is that when you send your email at the bottom it tells your recepient that you sent it via your Blackberry.  What better way is there to imply that you are important and tech savvy than to have your own phone rub it in?  "Yes, I have a Blackberry...suck on that cousin Bob!!  Love, Wendy."

In the morning I turn on my XM radio and listen to the 90's station.  On Sunday morning I am treated to a retro weekly top 40 with Rick Dees.  It's a great way to take a trip down memory lane.  And when New Kids on the Block come on I secretly cheer.  I still remember having hundreds of posters.  My brother drew on Joey McIntyre's poster once and it truly ruined my Easter Sunday when I was 12.  Last Sunday Rick Dees was giving away a stereo system complete with compact disc player, tape deck and a turn table!!!  Must have been about 1993.  I had to laugh...my kids don't know what a tape deck is, let alone a record player.  They will never know the joys of mix tapes or holding down the pause button ever so slightly to hear your favorite artist sped up to sound like a chipmunk.

When I need directions I just turn on my telenav and it gives me turn by turn directions.  No more forgetting the Mapquest directions on the printer.  My baby tells me everything I need to know. 

I think my husband is jealous.  He complains that I love my phone and I will freely admit here that I do.  I don't want to say that I love it as much as him but I sleep closer to the phone than I do my hubby.  I guess I do understand.  He does have the edge though...the Blackberry can't kiss my neck when I sit here and type this. 

Speak of the devil...he just got home...and kissed my neck.  Awww. 

I'm off to bed, Blackberry in hand.

A Website Is Born!

I am please to annouce the birth of origins doula services new website:

http://www.originsdoulaservices.com/

I have been working hard on it for the last few days.  

Just wanted to share.  Now you know why I haven't been blogging. :-)

My Yearbook Photos

Travel back in time with yours truly as I share with you my yearbook pictures:

Okay this pic above was supposed to be from the year I graduated, 1996. Here is a real pic from that year. All I can say is Yowzers!

If you want to have some fun seeing yourself through the decades go to yearbookyourself.com

Have fun!

Jazzercise!!

Since my last post was a bit of a heavy note I thought I'd lighten it up a little today.

For months I have been agonizing over how to exercise with a toddler. Nothing seemed feasible as Midge is now in high gear all the time. I didn't want to pay $30 a month to go to a health club and then an extra $10 a month for childcare. It seemed as if I would never get rid of the extra junk in the trunk. I walk the kids to and from school but the heat has forced me to take the car in the afternoons. Therefore I felt stuck in my fat rut without a light at the end of the tunnel.

That was until I found out about Jazzercise. My friend mentioned she was going and loved it. I have to admit that when I first heard about it I immediately pictured this:

I needed to check it out because my friend used the word "addicted" and anyone who uses the words "addicted" and "exercise" in the same sentence is either crazy or has found something really good. Since my friend is very levelheaded I assumed the later. After an internet search and a phone call I found out I could go for free anytime I wanted if I put one hour in each week in the childcare area. At this point I would have been willing to wear a full on flourescent pink one piece stretch leotard complete with scrunch socks and a scrunchie. Just one hour of childcare a week and I can come whenever there are classes and work out for free and have free childcare?? Sign me up!! Lucky me I grabbed the last childcare spot available. "It's destiny," I convince myself. I am meant to Jazzercise.

So today was my first official workout day. Let me tell you it was more fun than I thought. Most of the women there were moms or grandmas and I felt comfortable and secure. And it's a good thing too because some I probably looked like I was doing a drunk ho-down instead of a graceful step ball change.

The only challenge is that Midge didn't like the childcare. He cried a bit at first and I went in after he wouldn't calm down for 10 minutes. Then I went back out and he continued to cry for the rest of the time off and on. I felt bad but he has to get used to being in there. By the time the workout was over I was sweating and felt great and Midge was covered with hives and was snotty and hiccuping. Poor little guy! Maybe tomorrow will be better.

I will be sure to report my progress.

Spare Him The (Un)Kindest Cut!

I have debated writing about this topic for awhile but I have decided I am going to go ahead and throw it out there since it is a hot topic and something I feel is very important to research and discuss.

What do 85% of the men in this world have but it removed in the most common surgery performed in America?

Answer: A foreskin!

When I was in high school I had to do volunteer hours and I chose to do mine in a newborn nursery at a local hospital. I remember seeing this thing that looked like a torture device for infants, and I didn't know what it was for:

Little did I know that I would be subjected to hearing many baby boys being circumcised. Their cries were enough to turn my stomach.

I would scoop up the newly circumcised boys and try to soothe them. I would pray that I would never have a boy because I never ever wanted to subject him to that pain. At the time I didn't know I had a choice. It became a sore spot in my heart and an experience that would forever shape me.

So many of you are reading this and saying "And.....???"

Well, did you know that no health organizations in the world recommend circumcision? It has no proven medical benefits, the benefits are regarded as "potential." North American culture has adopted circumcision as "normal" and we often see it as "cleaner" and want our boys to look more like their fathers. What is so interesting to me is that so many of us don't bother to question the practice of circumcision on our tiny infant sons but if our children needed a tonsillectomy or ear tubes we would be weighing the pros and cons and getting second opinions. We are told the procedure is simple and the baby won't feel much pain. We hand our little boys to the doctor trusting that we are doing the right thing. But what if we aren't?

The practice of circumcision is fear-based and excuses for circumcision always have been consistent with the dreaded disease of the day. For instance, in the late 1800s it was thought to cure masterbation (now we all know that isn't true). As time went on it was thought to cure tuberculosis, insanity, hip joint diseases, convulsions, bloody noses, and night terrors. For a long version of this history please click here. Now there are studys that are trying to prove that circumcision prevents HIV/AIDS.  These studies have been regarded as flawed by many but the media continues to advertise these claims in an irresponsible manner.  If this is true why does America have one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates as well as one of the highest circumcision rates? What a false sense of security to those who will use that in lieu of safe sex. It also doesn't prevent penile cancer and is not recommended by the American Cancer Society. Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are also a reason a lot of parents site for circumcising their sons. Unfortunately, this claim holds no water as it would take 195 circumcisions to prevent one UTI, which can easily be treated with antibiotics. See this link for more info. Yeast and bacterial infections can occur if the forskin is not properly cared for or if the foreskin is prematurely retracted. These can be treated with antibiotics and creams without unneccesary surgery. Keep in mind that girls get far more infections than boys and our first resort is never to cut their genitals.

So now that we have moved past that issue, what about the hygiene issue? Is a foreskin really that hard to keep clean? As a mom of two intact boys I can tell you it is not at all. Before your son is retractable you do not have to wash under the foreskin at all. In fact you should not attempt to retract the foreskin. It will retract on it's own sometime between two years and puberty. Premature retraction can lead to infections and other complications that can lead a doctor to recommend circumcision. You just clean it like a finger. After the foreskin is retractable all that has to be done is a quick splash of water with the foreskin pulled back and that is it. No harsh soaps needed! We live in a country with running water and there is no reason to be scared of the "unclean" penis. Little boys can be taught to clean their private areas just like little girls. No harsh bristles or clorox bleach needed...just rinse and go!

So let's talk about the father/son penis mismatch scenario. How important is it that a son's penis look like his father's? When a boy sees his father naked and compares himself for the first time the first thing he will probably notice is hair. Should we run out and make a mini-penis toupee so father and son match? Mothers and daughters don't match either. Should we run out and involve plastic surgeon so daughter has breasts to match mom? Of course not! We often project our own insecurities on our children and it is so easy just to say "Back when daddy was a baby he had his foreskin taken off. Now we know that wasn't the best thing to do so we left yours alone so you could have all of your penis." And while we are on the topic let's talk locker room teasing. Who is going to point out somebody's penis is different for fear of being teased for being gay? In the unlikely event it does happen you can teach your son to say "Eww, dude why are you looking at my junk anyways?"

Is the foreskin just a little piece of skin? Not at all! It is a highly sensitive and functional sexual organ.

A foreskin protects the head of the penis, which is by design an internal organ. When the foreskin in removed the head of the penis becomes calloused and desensitized. When the foreskin is removed sexual pleasure in the male is reduced and in women it takes away the gliding action that reduces the need for lubricants. So don't let someone convince you that the foreskin is "just a piece of skin." It is a functional part of the male penis that is an important part of their sexual well being.

Is circumcision safe? I find that most people have heard a foreskin horror story but never a circumcision horror story. The truth is that baby boys are harmed by circumcision. Not only is the penis size and sexual fucntions reduced but there are risks of bleeding, infection, scarring, skin tags, removing too much skin, bowed penis, meteal stenosis, buried penis, skin bridges, loss of penis, and death. These things are 100% preventable by chosing not to circumcise. 

Does circumcision cause pain? Yes, it absolutely does. Babies feel pain when they are circumcised. Even if the numbing patch (EMLA) is used the sensation of the foreskin being torn from the glans is like ripping your nail off of your finger. Using any kind of local anesthetic is painful because needles and lidocaine hurt. The recovery is also painful as a raw penis is rubbing up against a soiled diaper and can cause great pain and discomfort. No matter how you slice it (pun intended) this procedure is not pain free.  There have been studies that have shown that infants who are circumcised have increased stress hormones and are more sensitive to pain later in life.  If a circumcision has to be done as an adult he can be given anesthesia and pain medication.  Generally speaking most men don't have to be circumcised as adults.  The horror stories that people are eager to share about foreskins often involve a doctor who is not familiar with how to care for the foreskin or problems originating from premature retraction of the foreskin.

Lastly, is circumcision ethical? Is is okay to remove a healthy, functioning body part from someone who is not able to consent? This procedure, once done, cannot be undone. Should we perform surgery to prevent potential disease?  We do not perform routine tonsillectomies because we might get recurrent throat infections. We don't pull our teeth out in case we get cavities. Why remove a healthy organ? It makes no sense. Because a circumcision has no proven medical benefits it is technically a cosmetic procedure. Why should it be okay to perform a cosmetic procedure on an unconsenting newborn? And why is it considered a birth defect when a baby is born without a foreskin but "normal" when we take it off a week later?  The truth is that people in America have seen the foreskin as a problem for many years when in reality we are the ones that are creating the problem.  I have always liked the bumper sticker that says "If a baby was meant to have a foreskin he would have been born with one."

Of course I am not writing this as a criticism or a guilt-laden lecture. I merely want to share with my readers my thoughts and feelings on circumcision based upon my research and personal choices. I highly encourage you to do your own research. Watch a circumcision video and read as much as you can get your hands on. Remember that it is okay for you to make a choice that is against tradition or culture.

Here are some informational websites:

http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/

http://jewishcircumcision.org/

http://www.circumcision.org/

http://www.noharmm.org/home.htm

American Academy of Pediatrics' stance on circumcision:

http://www.aap.org/publiced/br_circumcision.htm

I also want to let you know that if you have chosen to circumcise your boy I am not placing any judgement on you. It is not my intention to make you feel guilty for the choices you have made for your children.  I just want to encourage you to question this procedure and do some research on it's benefits and risks.

Off to bathe my baby boy!

The Mirrors

This morning I came home from dropping the kids off from school and found this:

Aww.  He loves me.